This was my 21st Bday at Landover...also my 5th show...Roanoke was the start-- immediately needed more so went to Landover and Kaiser in November. After Roanoke, I was 'in'. Agree with a couple of the reviewers--tapes did not circulate for awhile...it turns out I traveled with tapers, so we had decent audience tapes to enjoy on ride home. I was psyched to get Scarlet Fire on my Bday....as mentioned there was a glitch in Scarlet about 4.5 minutes into it..we were on the floor (tapers section) and with a head full of sillycibin...for a moment I thought I was the only one to hear the glitch....20 seconds of fear ensued...was it me? are they coming to take me away? In retrospect these were fun shows....not top 5, but well played and a great time. The horse cops were everywhere but did not impact my enjoyment....just a mild nuisance. I enjoyed Landover (went back in 88 and Spring 90) over the years and being from Florida that was the closest fall tour shows...anyway 'ain't no place I'd rather be' -- again, 21st Birthday celebrated with 20k friends with a band beyond description....!!

The last few time I downloaded shows from here every track had a chunk of silence before and after it calling attention to the fact that the track is changing. And the track breaks were all in weird places so I had to go back and take out all the pops and re-track the recording so it makes sence. Isn't it bad enough we can't download the soundboards but are they screwing with these audience downloads too !?!?!?!?!

the first show i actually got into. i was trippin hard and TOO blew me away. bobby sounded so strange. the whole experience was a long strange trip...

a friend Pete Hammermiester was going to all three shows and i gave him some money to buy me a ticket. i told him that i would meet him at the washington monument at some exact specified time. i drove the 71 impala from hampen-sydney college to the washington monument and he was there waiting with my ticket(seemed like a scene from some strange movie- no cell phone for the common many in those day).

needless to say the parking lot was a festival and of course dosed on some good clean cid. somehow found several fraternity brothers and sat with them on the upper left side. good sound. great show. I am listening right now to birdsong and it is still so beautiful. I drove home with two companions that needed rides back to HSC(Sid Lemon and Trip Denis)and those were their real names. It seems I couldn't write a novel quite as interesting, eh? but that is a dead show for ya! I have to give this show a good rating, probably a 4.75. 5 for my experience. 4 for a very nice recording and 4.6 for playing. they always seem to do well at the cap centre. I give it 5 to offset the 3 stars.

Just listening through Throwin' Stones...lots of forward motion and energy, would have been great to be there!

jboyaguar, have you noticed how many people have commented on how annoying your reviews are? SHUT UP!!!!

the sound quality on this is decent, but i don't think this tour was anything to write home about.

1st Set: "Iko" opens up the third night's festivities tight but also rather casual. "Rooster"'s laid back, but filled with a certain reassuring confidence that lifts the ordinary solos into a decent listen. However, this excludes Mr. Weir and his slide. I agree with the "Brown" selection afterwards. A breezy/jazzy minor key drum routine starts up...and the band engages itself in a "Fever." It's always a pleasure to hear the delicate rarity like "Stagger." Tonight's music is rather minimal, yet its restraint is pleasant-partially considering it's Sunday, last night of a three night stand...It just feels right, check out "Masterpiece" to see what I mean. It climaxes nicely too. Mmmmmm... "Bird Song" is the perfect follow-up. Brent's reverting to pounding; however, Jerry's keeping things pure if not revelatory. "Promised" closes the set off in its standard fashion.

2nd Set: Although both "Scarlet/Fire" are not particularly spacey or innovative, both songs are highly competently performed: direct and well-pronounced. "Playin" continues the string of tight versions. What it lacks in epic intensity, it more than makes up in brevity and tone. "Drums" is well-paced and is relatively evil leading to a haunting "Space." Of course, the logical step is to take to "TOO." I'm not a fan of these presentations that start out musically hushed with Bobby singing the first verse, as the band noodles- both waiting for the chorus to unleash '87 power. (ehhhh.) Anyways, Jerry's on so it matters for naught. "Stella" never reaches a moment of stark misery, but it's lovely nonetheless. "Throwing" is a momentum builder with Bobby's manly overenunciating singing. You just know that both the band and the audience's are expecting the same thing from each other and themselves: that they'll play "Good Lovin->La Bamba->Lovin." The novelty pays off once more.

There's no encore selection on this tape.
3 1/3 stars

Killer Scarlet>Fire!

for the 3rd night in row they were really on. great jams played tightly. the scene was very cool every night. happy to listen to these 3 again, it's been awhile.

There aren't too many copies of this show floating around, I believe since they were doing so many things and breaking away from the traditional lists of the 80s.

The energy was very high and the crowd is pretty tight with the band. Probably one of the best Scarlet > Fire s from start to transition to finish - short of '77. They didn't play many in '87, so the ones they did were definitely a treat. Jerry was definitely cognizant and cutting lines throughout.

The quality of the recording is pretty good, less a SB problem at about 4:15 into Scarlet. This is the same copy that's been around on tape. The crowd is definitely instrumental in making this show what it was and how it comes across on tape.

C